


Triplets go to Rydell

by Beecharmer



Category: Chalet School - Elinor M. Brent-Dyer, Grease (1978)
Genre: Crossover, F/F, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-29
Updated: 2020-04-28
Packaged: 2021-02-22 23:22:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 18
Words: 21,733
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23902039
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Beecharmer/pseuds/Beecharmer
Summary: Cross over with the Chalet School series and Grease. Can be read as a story without knowing either series but makes more sense if you know them both.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 1





	1. Chapter 1

Grease crossover / retelling. Inspired by suddenly realising that the Triplets were potentially in their final year in Prefects in around 1959, which is also when Grease is set. The film image of teenagers is so different to EBD's that the plot bunny wouldn't leave me alone. Completely different universe to any of my other drabbles. 

No money is made from this story and the characters remain the property of the original creator.


	2. Chapter 2

Len wandered along the edge of the beach, vaguely wondering how she was going to spend the day. She came to a sheltered part and sat down on the sand, hugging her knees to her, intent on her thoughts. 

It had been a strange few weeks. The triplets had arrived in the United States in early July, helping with childcare for the family of an old school friend of their mother's. Joey had been slightly afraid to send them without a family member to supervise, but the offer for their fares to be paid was too good an opportunity to miss. 

Joey was secretly worried about the way that Reg Entwhistle had been hanging around Len. She didn't want her daughter feeling pressured into saying yes to a proposal of marriage. After all she was only 17, nearly 18, still with a year of school left to her.

So the triplets had arrived, only to find that there really wasn't enough work for three of them. They took turns, staying in pairs to look after the children, so that each of them could enjoy the holiday aswell, and learn more about the area. 

Margot had quickly found a group of people her age and disappeared off on every opportunity. Con was happy to sit in the local diner and write, enjoying seeing the different way that the American teenagers behaved to the way people their age were expected to behave at the Chalet School. 

Len was not sure quite what to do with her time. Today she had decided to go to the beach and see if there were any nice shells that she could take back to her young brothers and sisters when she returned to Switzerland. 

Remembering this mission, she stood up and began to wander along again, head down and gaze sweeping the edge of the sea for colourful shells. 

All of a sudden, she looked up. A young man was sitting on the sand looking straight at her. He had dark black hair, dark eyes and a firm chin. 

He was about her age, she guessed, maybe a little older. It was hard to tell with these American teenagers, they all seemed somehow to be years older than she and her sisters. She blushed to realise that she had been staring, and looked away in confusion. 

Unseen by her, the young man smiled at her blushes, and made his mind up to go  
and investigate this newcomer. 

He quickly covered the distance between them, and was about to introduce himself, when Len looked up at him. Her deep violet eyes stopped him in his tracks, and he had to try a few times before he could say anything. 

Len was suprised at his forwardness in coming over to her, but secretly quite pleased. She looked up at him and smiled as he eventually got the words out. 

" Hey, I... I'm Danny" he said, trying to sound slightly detached and failing competely. "Danny Zuko"


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In general when a character from Grease is speaking they are saying their lines from the film, musical lyrics only used to make sense of the story, intended only as a fan work.

The rest of the summer passed in a happy whirl for Len. After a shy start, she had been happily suprised to find that Danny was quite gentle and kind, and they began to meet at the beach every time that Len was free. 

For the first time in her life, Len was living just for herself, without having to worry about her family or school responsibilities. Both Con and Margot were enjoying the freedom aswell, and they didn't ask many questions about what Len was doing. Again for the first time, Len wasn't interested in looking after their lives.. As long as they seemed healthy and happy, she found her mind fully occupied with her summer romance with Danny. 

They swam nearly every day, and built sandcastles on the beach, laughing and joking all of the time. One particularly fine castle made Danny quite proud, and Len took several pictures of him in front of it. After the fifth one however she began to see the funny side of his slight preening at his building skills. As she held the camera up she motioned him in front of the castle, then directed him repeatedly to step back. Too late he realised her trick, as he tripped backwards over onto the castle, squashing it flat, and creating a great snap of him with his legs in the air in mid tumble. 

He laughed, got up and chased after her, finally catching her and pulling her down with him onto the sand. She laughed with him, and without a thought moved towards him for a kiss. She remembered herself very quickly and didn't let it go any further, but that kiss was a memory she held close to herself that night. She knew this couldn't go anywhere, after all she had to go back to Switzerland. 

Switzerland. Back to school and being head girl. Worrying about the family, worrying about the younger girls. Trying not to be rude to the ever persistent Reg. She felt tense just thinking about it all, but she knew she had to go back. Len knew she ought to tell Danny that she was only there this summer, but a tiny selfish part of her didn't want this to end. Not yet. 

\--------------

Letter from Con Maynard to Joey and Jack Maynard

Dear All, 

It is my turn to write to you, so Margot and Len send their love and say that they will be bringing back lots of photos of America to show you. 

I am writing this sitting in a local diner, and I thought you might like to have a description of the people here. The diner is always full, and people eat such a strange range of foods here. They eat an awful lot of meat patties in a bun and chipped potatoes, but it seems very few vegetables - Mike would love that I am sure ! They also have drinks with ice cream in them, called "floats" - just like in those films that we saw on our last visit to england. 

There are some people here who are quite like people at home, and others who are very very different ! The young people here seem to be very fixed in terms of who they spend time with. Some of them wear dark clothes and leather jackets, and they are called "Greasers" I believe. I think it is due to the grease that they use on their hair. Others seem more focused on sports, and tend to wear pastel colours and longer skirts or trousers - more like the clothes we wear.

People do drive a lot over here, things are just so far apart I can see that they would have to, to get anywhere ! 

We are having a wonderful time, and I have to say that Len particularly seems a different person. She is more relaxed than she has been in years. 

Thank you for letting us come here. I am getting so much material for writing characters. I almost wish we could stay longer, all three of us are starting to get our own lives, which is actually less scary than I thought it would be, and rather fun. 

We'll always be there for each other - after all, we are triplets! But I can see us being able to stand alone now too. 

I am beginning to ramble rather in this letter, so I will stop here. All love to everyone, and we will have lots to tell you when we get back. 

Love from, 

Con 

\-----------------------

Len and Danny were still having the best summer of their lives. She laughed at him showing off in the water. He pretended at one point that he thought she had a cramp, and lifted her out of the water and carried her over to lie on the beach. Len laughed inside at the idea that she would need rescuing, but her heart seemed to be racing twice as fast as normal, being carried in his strong arms. Even though it was only a mock rescue, it was rather nice, she thought. I'm not surprised all of those teachers at school liked it so much. 

Danny suggested one day that they go to a Bowling alley, and Len really enjoyed the freedom of being able to say yes, although a little part of her did worry about whether she would be being innapropriate to be seen in public with just Danny. 

As they left the Alley, Danny held out his hand, and after a little hesitation, Len held his hand as they strolled along. It felt good, holding his hand, and Len realised that this was definitely a romance now. She had been slightly justifying it as a "friendship that just happened to be with a boy"

They moved gradually, both a little shy, but a few nights later, Len found herself deciding to stay a little longer, slightly thrilled at the idea of staying at the beach after dark, it seemed very daring to sheltered Len. 

In the shadow of the dock, they kissed and Danny held her close. He contemplated moving his hands elsewhere, but something in him told him that Len just wasn't ready. So they simply 'made out' under the dock, kissing for much of the time, but holding hands talking quietly together for even more. 

It came to the last week before the triplets were to go home. Len felt a huge sense of loss thinking about this, and realised that she could put the situation off no longer. 

She told Danny about having to leave, and he was comforting and gentle about it. Len was quite upset, saying she just felt like she was getting to know him, and now she had to go away, it was the end. 

Danny held her close. "It's not the end" he said. "Its only the beginning" 

________________________________________

Summer loving song from Grease, sung by Danny and Sandy with others adding in. 

Summer lovin' had me a blast   
Summer lovin', happened so fast   
I met a girl crazy for me  
I met a boy, cute as can be 

Summer days driftin' away,  
To uh-oh those summer nights   
Tell me more, tell me more,   
Did you get very far?   
Tell me more, tell me more,   
Like, does he have a car?

She swam by me, she got a cramp   
He went by me, got my suit damp   
I saved her life, she nearly drowned   
He showed off, splashing around   
Summer sun, something's begun,   
But uh-oh those summer nights 

Tell me more, tell me more,  
Was it love at first sight?   
Tell me more, tell me more,   
Did she put up a fight?   
Took her bowlin' in the Arcade   
We went strollin', drank lemonade   
We made out under the dock   
we stayed up until ten o'clock 

Summer fling don't mean a thing,   
But uh-oh those summer nights   
Tell me more, tell me more,   
But you don't gotta brag  
Tell me more, tell me more,   
Cause he sounds like a drag 

He got friendly, holdin' my hand   
Well she got friendly, down in the sand   
He was sweet, just turned eighteen   
Well she was good, you know what I mean 

Summer heat, boy and girl meet,   
But uh-oh those summer nights   
Tell me more, tell me more,   
How much dough did he spend?   
Tell me more, tell me more,   
Could she get me a friend?

It turned colder, that's where it ends   
So I told her we'd still be friends   
Then we made our true love vow   
Wonder what she's doin' now 

Summer dreams ripped at the seams,   
But oh, those summer nights


	4. Chapter 4

Joey Maynard looked at the letter in her hand and frowned. 

"Jack," she said, then again after recieving no answer, " Jack! Put those patient files down a moment, we need to talk about something."

Jack put his paperwork down with a sigh and concentrated on what his wife was saying. 

"I have been reading Con's letter again, and really, I thought, why can't we?"

Jack shook his head, tiredness from his very busy schedule making Joey's rather oblique way of talking almost incomprehensible. "Talk sense, Jo" he replied "Why can't we do what?" 

"Let the girls stay there for a year" Joey said. "They seem to be finding their own feet, and it sounds as though Len is much less worried. If they need to go back to the Chalet School a year later, it will do no harm. After all, how many people get to experience an American High School?"

Jack resisted the urge to say 'several million americans' and let her continue. 

"They can always come back if they don't like it, and it would also give Len a little longer to work out what she feels about Reg" Joey finished. 

Jack thought for a moment. There really was no reason that they couldn't try the girls finishing their schooling in America. He had noticed Reg starting to hang around again, as if checking whether Len had returned. Much as he liked the young man, he was slightly irritated by the way he was chasing Len. 

They discussed some more details, then decided to arrange a telephone call to the girls and find out if they would seriously be keen on taking this option. 

\-------------

Margot sat in the diner, enjoying the banter of her new friends all around her. Frenchie was talking to Val the waitress about her possible acceptance into Beauty School. Val was hugely busy, but patiently letting Frenchie tell her all about it every time she went past. Rizzo was lying down across a few seats with her sunglasses on, affecting to be bored with everything. Jan and Marty were discussing Marty's latest pen pal boyfriend. 

Margot was just happy sitting there, being part of it all. These weeks hanging around with the girls had been exciting to her. Finally she found herself not tarred with the brush of "the naughty one" or being short tempered. These girls accepted occasional bursts of feeling as a matter of course. They almost expected her to want to rebel, to be interested in boys and make up and parties. After years of thinking there must be something wrong with her, she felt that she belonged. 

She worried about her sisters finding out. Particularly Len. Despite trying to back away from their lives, until recently Len had still remained an unofficial sheepdog to her sisters, keeping them from straying too far from the behaviour expected of them. It had been quite refreshing to have Len seem so distracted recently, although Margot didn't know why. She didn't really care why, as long as it stopped Len from noticing the remnants of make up after a night out, or that Margot was creeping in at two in the morning. 

Rizzo sat up as the food arrived, and began to tease the others with pithy comments designed to get a reaction. Margot watched in admiration as Rizzo held court with the Pink Ladies around her. This was someone she wanted to be like, so confident and sure of herself. 

\--------------------

Len and Danny said goodbye at the beach a few days before she was due to leave. 

She wondered about asking for his address, but she knew her family would not be impressed with her corresponding with a young man, and she felt too shy to assume that he might want to keep in touch. 

Danny on his part had started to protect himself, try to dismiss the feelings he had for Len. After all, he was the leader of the T Birds, he was going back to school soon, he couldn't get stuck on one girl, his reputation stood by being aloof and separate, too cool for school and such things as a regular grlfriend. Being with Len was a life of illusion, wrapped up in trouble and filled with confusion. What was he doing here ? Nothing could come of it anyway, Len was going back to Switzerland

So they said their goodbyes and went their separate ways. 

Back at the house Len was met by a thoroughly overexcited Con and Margot. 

"Quick, Mum and Dad are on the phone !" 

They hurried her to the handset with them, and the three of them all agreed instantly to the new plan. Once the details had been worked out, Len excused herself to her sisters, promising that she would be right back, and raced off to the beach. 

He wasn't there any more. 

She hung around a bit, tried to remember where in the huge city he said that he lived, even what school he had said he attended. She couldn't. All at once she realised that she had no idea really how to find him again. 

Her spirits dampened, she returned to the house. Her sisters were so happy with the new plan that she started to cheer up a little. After all, it was still a change from the Platz, still a little more time away from Reg. She might never see Danny again, but there was always that faint, faint chance that they might meet again. 

Margot tried to keep a cool attitude when she told her new friends, but was secretly thrilled by their reaction. It was a fantastic moment to her when they officially presented her with a 'Pink Ladies' Jacket, and she wore it continuously from then on, despite her sisters both being a little shocked by how bright it was compared to their usual pastel shades. She made a vow to herself. Conventionality belonged to yesterday, she was going to start believing now that she could be who she was. 

Con was happy to feel that she had a way to throw away the pressure that she had felt on her to be aware of her surroundings and reliable. She had started on a story set in their current city, and was looking forward to being able to finish it without having to make herself concentrate on her responsibilities as a prefect and sister of the head girl. In a school as large as the one they were going to, she could happily escape attention and wander along in her own little world with her characters. 

Len went back to the beach at every opportunity from then until the start of term. She looked out hopefully for Danny on any trips out they made, but he was never there. 

She decided that she just had to put it behind her, consider it a summer romance, nothing more. 

\---------------------

Grease is the Word Lyrics 

I solve my problems and I see the light   
We gotta plug and think, we gotta feed it right   
There ain't no danger we can go too far   
We start believing now that we can be what we are 

Grease is the word   
They think our love is just a growing pain   
Why don't they understand, It's just a crying shame   
Their lips are lying only real is real   
We start to find right now we got to be what we feel 

Chorus:   
Grease is the word (is the word that they heard)   
It's got groove, it's got meaning   
Grease is the time, is the place, is the motion   
Grease is the way we are feeling 

We take the pressure and we throw away   
Conventionality belongs to yesterday   
There is a chance that we can make it so far   
We start believing now that we can be who we are 

Chorus 

This is a life of illusion   
Wrappe up in trouble   
Laced with confusion   
What are we doing? 

We take the pressure and we throw away   
Conventionality belongs to yesterday   
There is a chance that we can make it so far   
We start believing now that we can be who we are 

Chorus (x2)


	5. Chapter 5

It was the first day of school. Danny heard from far away the radio chattering on, and nearly hit the OFF button when the voice on the radio reminded him that it was no longer holiday time. 

The DJ was gabbling on, as Danny groaned and stood up to go and get ready. 

"This is the main brain, Vince Fontaine, beginning your day with the only way, Music, Music, Music. Get out of bed, it's the first day of school. Don't be a slob, Don't get a job. Go back to class, you can pass. And to start the day off nice and fine, we're gonna play a new old favorite of mine..."

Danny stared into the mirror at his hair, sticking out at all angles, and started the long process of setting up his image. He had made it this far through school by being as hard as he could, not letting anyone tease him or get too close. He had become the leader of the school's leather jacket wearing "Greasers", called the T Birds. 

At the end of the previous term he had had a bad breakup with Betty Rizzo, one of the "Pink Ladies", a girl gang who tended to hang around with the T Birds. They had grown up together, so despite a few make out sessions, he not taken them being an item as seriously as her, and fooled around with an old girlfriend, Cha Cha de Gregorio. 

Rizzo was another one who protected herself by being hard, so she had laughed it off and simply said he was a pig anyway. However it had created tension when they were together, so Danny had kept away for much of the holiday, even before meeting Len. 

It had actually been a relief being away from the gang at the beach the past month, he could just relax, not think about how he looked, was he keeping his respect, fulfilling his image. Len was a breath of fresh air, she seemed to not have a bitter or cynical bone in her body. She was very shy physically, that was true, and he had had quite a few cold showers that summer, but it had been a nice change to take things a bit slower, get to know her a bit.

Danny greased his hair into shape, and shrugged his T-Bird jacket on, before he set off for school. He had to stop thinking about Len. She had gone back to Switzerland, and that was that. He wasn't cut out for one girl anyway, he was better to play the field. 

\-----------------

Several miles away, Len was nervously dressing in one of her summer dresses, finding the decision making of not having a uniform quite hard. She had also had time to realise that there would be no prefect duties or younger girls to look after. She had not quite realised until now how the routine of those duties helped her to be confident, to know what to do with herself. 

Margot met her and Con outside, wearing some of her new black trousers and the "Pink Ladies" jacket. Len considered suggesting that she go and change, sure that this was not appropriate wear for school, but a glint in Margot's eye and a warning hand on her arm from Con stopped her before the words left her mouth. 

Margot couldn't quite look them in the eye as she mumbled something. They couldn't hear her properly, so she had to repeat it. 

"I have a lift...some friends...was thinking maybe start doing some things separately...still love you...want to be own person" she muttered. 

"You mean you don't think your friends will like us" said Con, with that frankness that often caught people by surprise. "Doesn't bother me, I'm happy to go our own ways Margot, just get going."

Len didn't know quite what to say, so she just nodded, and Margot hurried off to meet Rizzo, Jan and Marti, who were driving to school. 

Con put her arm through Len's, and said "She was going to do it anyway, Len, there was no point in arguing. You can tell when her devil has got hold of her. Let her do what she wants, she will come back when she is ready." 

They walked off to the bus stop, and waited there. They noticed a girl with very red dyed hair, who smiled at them. "Hello, are you going to Rydell too? You are the girls who are living with the Flower's aren't you?"

They agreed and began talking to her. She was hugely excited by the fact that they had come from living in Switzerland, although she was convinced that that made them French. Before they had reached school they knew that she was trying to get into a local beauty school, knew how to French exhale (although they had no real clue what she meant by this) and had introduced herself as Frenchy. She had clearly decided that she was going to be their mentor at Rydell High, and was assuring them cheerily that they would love the school. 

As the bus pulled up in front of a huge building, with more people surrounding it than it felt Len had seen in her whole life, all dressed in what seemed like outlandish and sometimes quite revealing clothes, she couldn't help mumbling to herself:

"I loved the last school I was at, I wish I was there right now"


	6. Chapter 6

Danny arrived at school, and put his face in a "don't care" expression, before swaggering in. Several girls looked at him and giggled, and he started talking to a couple of them, before hearing his name called by the other T-Birds. They greeted him enthusiastically and wanted to know where he had been all summer. His closest friend Kenickie had been working all summer, as he put it 'lugging boxes at Bargain City"

Danny made a big thing about how there had been many many girls at the beach, after all having girls hanging around him was part of his tough guy image. Almost without meaning to, he thought of Len, and the words "There was this one chick, she was sort of cool" slipped out. 

He had to cover up quickly, so he implied that he had got really far with this girl, who was beautiful and 'cool'.

On the other side of the high school campus, the main part of the Pink Ladies gang arrived in style and started to stalk into school. They couldn't quite believe they were back there again, a new school year. 

"Only this time we are Seniors" said Marty, and Rizzo said "We are going to Rule the School..." and they all fell into giggles. 

Margot was loving being part of such a vibrant group, and seeing people's heads turn wherever they went. She joined in the giggles, though she wasn't 100% sure what they were laughing at, but it felt good to be part of this gang. She was loving the feling of being slightly rebellious, and she knew her family and Aunty Hilda would not approve of her behaviour. 

Marti was slightly embarrassed and said "That is so adolescent!" to which Jan, who was still happily young in outlook, replied "We are adolescent" and giggled more. 

Rizzo remembered herself and put on a don't care expression before replying "We don't have to flaunt it." 

She saw the girls looking at them and followed this up with putting her sunglasses on and saying "Come on girls, lets go get em..."

\--------

Len and Con were taken up in a whirl of new sights and sounds. They had to register to join the school, and were amazed to see that despite taking mostly the same subjects as each other, they had no classes together, nor any with Margot. The sheer scale of the school began to sink in. Len was glad to see that she at least had a few classes the same as Frenchie, a slightly familiar face at least. 

Con was quite overwhelmed to begin with, but when she was able to hide at the back of the class amd daydream without anyone noticing or caring she was quite happy. 

Margot was in a class with mainly boys, since she was taking so many science subjects. Although she didn't yet know them, she watched in amusement as Kenickie put a mouse in the bag of one of the other girls. The mouse came out of the bag a short time later and the girl screamed. 

Margot chortled along with Danny and Kenickie, and was rewarded by a smile from Danny and an appraising look from Kenickie. 

She blushed and focused her attention back on her work. Kenickie watched the back of her head thoughtfully during the rest of the lesson. 

\-------------

Finally it was lunch time. 

Again a complete change, as they picked up food from a dazzling variety of choices in a cafeteria, and went outside to eat. 

The T Birds retired to their favourite perch on the sports spectator stands, making fun of the sporty students, called "Jocks" 

Kenickie said " Did any of you'se see that new chick at registration?" and expressed admiration for her. Doody's reply was typical him, "You mean her jugs were bigger than Annettes?" to which Kenickie smirked and said "Nobodie's jugs are bigger than Annettes" and they generally sniggered between them. 

" Hey I wanna hear about what Danny did at the beach" said Putzy, and the others agreed. 

" You don't wanna hear all the horny details" laughed Danny. But they did. 

\---------

On the othe side of school, Margot was sitting with the other Pink Ladies, giggling at Marti in her new glasses. 

" Don'tcha think they make me look smarter?" said Marti, to which Rizzo shot back 

"Na, you can still see ya face" and the others giggled into their lunches. 

To Margot's distress, however, she saw Frenchie approaching with a new friend. 

Len and Margot looked at each other, as Frenchie introduced Len to the Pink Ladies and they sat down. 

Margot barely acknowledged Len, who was now stuck as to what to do. Con had foumd the school library and seemed set to stay there for the duration, so Len had left her to it, and been glad of Frenchie's friendship. Now it seemed she would be stepping on Margot's toes. 

Len was confused. She wanted to remain friends with Frenchie, but the other girls seemed brash and loud and quite scary. 

Len started talking to a cheery girl dressed in much more familiar type of clothes, pastel coloured and fully covering. She introduced herself to Len as Patti Simcock. 

Margot heard Frenchie whisper to Rizzo "What do you think, do you think we could let Len into the Pink Ladies?" 

Rizzo looked critically at Len, in her conventional clothes, and answering Patti's questions with a polite reserve. 

" I don't know..." Rizzo said. "She looks too pure to be Pink" 

Margot couldn't help feeling a bit smug at these words. She was " Cooler" than her sister. She wasn't third in line for approval, she was an accepted part of this gang. 

" So Len, what did you do all summer?" Patti asked. Len paused for a moment, then something in her snapped. Margot was ignoring her, clearly embarrassed by her. She had no idea how much Len had changed herself that summer, how much she had grown up. Nor of how petty Margot's attempts to fit in seemed to Len at the moment. It grated on Len however that Margot so clearly didn't think her acceptable to her friends. Not "cool" enough. 

Before she even realised what she was doing, Len said 

"I spent most of it at the beach. I met a boy there." 

\---------------------


	7. Chapter 7

Everyone was suddenly interested. Margot was about to scornfully deny this, then realised with a shock that it could actually be true. After all, Len had kept disappearing off all summer, and she might have met a boy. 

Len was a bit embarrassed by the attention, then slightly proud. She was always the good one, the sensible one. It was quite nice to be centre of attentiond for something slightly naughty. After all she really ought not to have been seeing Danny without anyone knowing. 

She was being asked for more details.

"Well, it all happened so fast," she said. "I was at the beach and I met a boy and he was lovely...er cute, and well it was a summer fling, I supppse. The summer days just drifted away..."

She noticed Rizzo looking rather bored by how tame this was and suddenly Len's own devil, mild though it was, decided to spice things up a bit. 

"But oh... Those summer nights..." she said, mock casually, trying not to blush at the attention this then gave her. 

Margot was fuming. Len was starting to win these girls over, she could see her gaining interest with this apparently daring fling. She was pleased to see that Rizzo seemed unimpressed. 

\----------------

Over in the group of boys, Danny was being mobbed for details. 

He laughed and gave in. 

"Summer loving, had me a blast" he said. "I met a girl, crazy for me" 

The T Birds were hanging on every word and asking him to tell them more. One of them asked "Did you get very far?" 

Danny preened a little. He said " She swam by me, and she got a cramp. I saved her life, she nearly drowned!"

They were still asking for more details about his conquest. Sonny said " Did she put up a fight?" to which Danny just looked scornful. 

He tried to think what else might sound good, after all, he had built this up to be some great thing, he had to give some more suggestion of getting further with her. 

"Took her bowling, in the arcade" he said, then smirked. "We made out, under the dock. We got friendly, down in the sand...well she was good you know what I mean ... " 

They were all hanging on his every word now, though one of them said, " You don't gotta brag" 

He looked sadder as he said " It was a summer fling, don't mean a thing" and then remembered he was implying more action, so followed it up with " But oh those summer nights!" 

The mood was stopped by Sonny asking if she could get him a friend, which sign of desparation was not cool. Danny just said shortly " So I told her we'd still be friends" and wandered a little away from the group. 

He thought to himself 'I wonder what she is doing now'...  
\--------------

Over with the girls, Len was quite carried away with her own daring. 

"He went by me, got my suit damp" she said, then blushed at how this revealed how close physical contact she had had with Danny. She remembered the "rescue" with a smile, and added "He showed off, splashing around."

The girls were asking for more. Len was suprised to be asked by Marti if the boy had a car and how much dough he spent. She frowned for a minute before she remembered this meant money. 

She wasn't sure how to answer the questions, which she considered quite rude. So she was glad when a beaming Frenchie asked " Was it love at first sight?" and sge could say how romantic it had been. 

"We went rambli...strolling, and drank lemonade" she said, and added, proud of her daring " We stayed out till ten o'clock" 

Behind her back, both Rizzo and Margot rolled their eyes at this tame statement, and Rizzo muttered " He sounds like a drag..."

Margot felt ashamed of how glad she was that Rizzo wasn't fooled into thinking Len was really that daring. She couldn't help wanting to be the only daring one, the 'cool' triplet.

Len carried on. " He became... got ... friendly, holding my hand," she confessed to a wide eyed Patti and Frenchie. "He was sweet, he had just turned eighteen"

She looked sadder as she thought of the end of things, and said "It turned colder, that's where it ends. We said goodbye, and... We made our true love vow ..." 

Rizzo was by now almost mock retching at such soppiness, but held herself back. 

Lunch break was over, and the girls were heading back inside when someone asked the boy's name. 

Len said innocently " It was Danny, Danny Zuko" and was suprised to see the girls all react slightly. Rizzo shushed them, and turned a near sneering smile towards Len.

" Well who knows, if you believe in miracles, maybe Prince Charming will show up again some day, some where unexpected ..." and took the other girls off.

Margot had a sinking feeling she knew where this was going. There had been lots of boy talk over the summer, and the words Danny and Zuko were a favorite topic. He sounded like a real bad boy, a flirt. She was momentarily sorry for Len, then she thought about how smug she had felt Len was being, and decided she deserved a little bit of bringing down to earth. 

\----------------------

Summer lovin' had me a blast   
Summer lovin', happened so fast   
I met a girl crazy for me  
I met a boy, cute as can be 

Summer days driftin' away,  
To uh-oh those summer nights   
Tell me more, tell me more,   
Did you get very far?   
Tell me more, tell me more,   
Like, does he have a car?

She swam by me, she got a cramp   
He went by me, got my suit damp   
I saved her life, she nearly drowned   
He showed off, splashing around   
Summer sun, something's begun,   
But uh-oh those summer nights 

Tell me more, tell me more,  
Was it love at first sight?   
Tell me more, tell me more,   
Did she put up a fight?   
Took her bowlin' in the Arcade   
We went strollin', drank lemonade   
We made out under the dock   
we stayed up until ten o'clock 

Summer fling don't mean a thing,   
But uh-oh those summer nights   
Tell me more, tell me more,   
But you don't gotta brag  
Tell me more, tell me more,   
Cause he sounds like a drag 

He got friendly, holdin' my hand   
Well she got friendly, down in the sand   
He was sweet, just turned eighteen   
Well she was good, you know what I mean 

Summer heat, boy and girl meet,   
But uh-oh those summer nights   
Tell me more, tell me more,   
How much dough did he spend?   
Tell me more, tell me more,   
Could she get me a friend?

It turned colder, that's where it ends   
So I told her we'd still be friends   
Then we made our true love vow   
Wonder what she's doin' now 

Summer dreams ripped at the seams,   
But oh, those summer nights


	8. Chapter 8

After school, the triplets settled down to get their homework done without much discussion. Being used to enforced prep hours directly after school, they found the habit difficult to break. Con, who was still processing the stresses of the day through her characters, vaguely knew that something wasn't right with Len and Margot, but put it down to the earlier situation on the way to school. She rushed through her own work, then happily settled down to write some of her ideas amd impressions down. 

Len by now was torn between wanting to be friendly to Margot, and being hurt that she had been so obvious in not wanting Len there, and specifically not liking Len being centre of attention. 

On her part, Margot was slightly ashamed of herself, which always made her defensive. But why was it that out of all of the people Len could have made friends with it had to be one of the Pink Ladies? There were hundreds if not thousands of students at Rydell. Why did she have to latch onto Margot's new friends? 

Margot was also quite shocked that Len had been 'misbehaving' with a boy from the sounds of it. She was jealous of Len having made this next step to being adult before she did, and was at the same time curious. She wanted to ask Len what it had been like, whether it felt as good as it did in Margot's daydreams. But she also didn't want to be giving Len attention for it, after all the fuss that afternoon. 

Len was missing the escape of going to the beach and Danny, and feeling sad about losing him. She wasn't in a mood to find out what was bothering Margot, she just wanted to get her work done and then be left alone. 

She sighed as she thought about the situation. She liked Frenchie, who seemed open and friendly, but it seemed likely to cause problems if she spent too much time socially with her. 

Patti had given her a flyer about joining the cheerleaders. That might be another way to make friends perhaps. She was interested in games and folk dancing after all. 

\-----------------------------

Len was a little surprised at the shortness of the skirt with her cheerleading uniform, and the elaborate near gymnastic moves, but she joined in with a will and was chosen to be part of the team for that Friday's pep rally, which was to support the Rydell Rangers football team. Con stayed behind to baby sit their hosts' children, so that both Margot and Len could go. 

"Are you sure that's ok, Con?" asked Len anxiously. Con was quick to reassure her. If she was honest, she really didn't want to go anyway. She was worn out with all of the new experiences of the week, and she had been thoroughly hijacked by her characters demanding stories to be written for them. 

Len was in two minds herself about going. The scale of this school was slightly unnerving after the Chalet School where everyone knew everyone else. She had already come to realise that things that were the norm at the Chalet School like paper games were seen as childish or old fashioned by the teenagers at Rydell. 

She had tried to make friends among the cheerleaders, but they were not keen to let someone in to their group at this late stage of school, although they did become more friendly after one of the football players started showing interest in her. Len was flattered by the attention, but he wasn't Danny. 

After the cheerleader's display, Len was suprised to be surrounded by the Pink Ladies. 

"Come on, we've got a suprise for ya" said Rizzo, and pulled her towards a group of cars at the edge of the bonfire. If Len had been able to see their faces, neither Frenchie nor Margot were looking particularly happy, but were following along with the crowd. 

\----------------

She saw a group of young men surrounding a rusty white car. They were all in dark clothes and leather jackets, and were people she had avoided as looking quite fierce and alien to her. 

"Hey Zuko, got a suprise for ya!" Rizzo said loudly, pulling Len forward. 

Danny turned to her, saying "Oh Yeah?" but he barely heard her laughing reply of "Yeah!" in his delight at seeing Len. 

"Len!" he exclaimed in the softest voice any present had ever heard him use. "I thought you were goin' back to Europe?" 

Len was grinning from ear to ear, and happily responded with "We had a change of plan!" 

He was about to ask her more when he became aware of the rest of his gang looking at him suspiciously. He realised all at once that this clean cut cheerleader was nothing like the type he was expected to like, and that his reputation as a cool womaniser was on the line. 

He pulled away from her and put on his normal casual tone. 

"Thas cool baby, you know how it is, rockin and rollin an' whatnot."

Len was confused. This posing slightly sneering Danny was nothing like the gentle boy at the beach. She was hurt and confused at him drawing away from her. 

"Danny?" she said, frowning as she questioned. He preened and turned to his friends, caught in the sniggers and admiration they were giving him for this behaviour. 

"Thas my name, don' wear it out" he said. 

Len was getting angry now. He was making fun of her, that much she knew. 

"What happened to the Danny Zuko I met at the beach?" she challenged fiercely.

Danny was caught up in the moment, and a tiny part of him was angry at her. She said she was going to leave, she hadn't wanted to keep in touch, then she just turnef up with a "change of plans". 

He sniggered and said "Well I do not know. Maybe there's two of us, ... maybe you should try the Yellow Pages"

Len didn't often lose her temper, but when she did, she was a force to be reckoned with. She had given up her final year as Head Girl to stay here, was looking to a friendless year with arguments between her and Margot. All because she had wanted to be with this boy, not a man, a boy. Now he was treating her with no respect, being just as unfriendly as many of the girls had been. 

"You're a fake and a phony, and I wIsh I'd never laid eyes on you!" she shouted at him, then stormed off. 

Danny realised too late how far he had gone. Rizzo's triumphant face told him that he had fallen into her trap. 

He looked after Len, wanting to follow. But as he did Kenickie called him back to look at his new car. He paused, then turned to join the gang.


	9. Chapter 9

Len ran away from all of them, brushing tears away from her face as she went. Frenchie and Margot followed, Margot slightly lagging behind, a little unsure how Len would respond to her right now. 

Frenchie was a caring soul, thoughtless as she was in some things, and she soon had her arms around Len, and was handing her tissues. 

" He was so nice to me this summer." sobbed Len. 

"Men are rats" said Frenchie. "Listen to me. They are fleas on rats... Worse than that, they are amoebas on fleas on rats" 

Len laughed in spite of herself. 

"The only man a girl can depend on is a Daddy." said Frenchie. "We are having a sleepover at my house tonight, wanna come?" 

Len paused, looked over at Margot, hesitated and then got a set look on her face. She agreed, and thanked Frenchie for the invitation. Margot's face said it all. She obviously knew about the sleepover, and about Danny. Len was fed up with putting Margot's needs before her own. If she didn't like Len beIng friends with the same group, well ... Tough. 

Margot was torn between wanting to comfort Len as her Triplet, and fuming at Frenchie giving away about the sleepover. She had been planning on going back with Len and sneaking out to Frenchie's later. 

Now if Len was there... Well in a way it made it easier, since they would probably get permission to go if it was both of them there. But Len was ... Len. Margot had admitted to the Pink Ladies about Len and Con being her sisters, and she already felt a little bit of her new friend's admiration for her as an exotic stranger begin to fade with the association with such old fashioned girls as her sisters clearly were. 

So it was with mixed feelings that the two of them went to the sleepover. They were barely speaking, and Margot was walking slightly ahead of Len, as if trying to separate from her. The Pink Ladies Jacket sparkled in the moonlight as Len watched her sister stalk ahead. Len sighed. Perhaps she ought to take a little of Margot's example, try to fit in a little more. It seemed to have worked for her after all. It was clear that Danny was embarrassed by Len, and from all that she could tell, Margot was embarrassed by Len too. Perhaps it was her own attitudes and values that needed changing, mused Len. 

\--------------

The sleepover party was in full swing when they arrived. Jan was making fun of a toothpaste commercial on the television, and Marti was showing off a kimono sent to her by one of her many servicemen boyfriends. 

It wasn't long before Len came to her first hurdle. The girls passed around a cigarette. Margot had been smoking for most of the summer, and managed well enough, although she still disliked the taste. 

Len refused politely when it came to her turn. Rizzo and Jan both began to pressurise her, with Rizzo saying " Go on, it won't kill ya" 

They all fell about laughing as Len gave a tentative draw on the cigarette and collapsed coughing. 

"Oh I forgot to say, you shouldn't inhale unless you are used to it" sniggered Rizzo, slugging from a bottle of wine she had produced. 

Frenchie occupied herself with showing Len how to French inhale, which she claimed was the reason for her nickname. 

Len also did not enjoy the slug of wine sge was pressed into having. Margot was getting more and more frustrated at her sister showing her up, and almost as a reaction, she drank more than her own and Len's share. She was no more used to alcohol than Len was. The wine went to her head quite quickly. 

Frenchie then dragged Len into the bathroom to peirce her ears for her. The stress of this, knowing her parents would most certainly not approve, was too much for Len. She had eaten very little at dinner, feeling depressed about Danny's reaction to her, and the cigarette, wine and now pain and blood from the ear peircing all combined to make her throw up. 

Rizzo was prowling around the room, trying on wigs. Len irritated her, she felt a judgement on herself from the values Len was trying to stick to, and that niggled at her. 

"Miss Goody-Two-Shoes makes me wanna barf" she said, and started prancing around parodying Len. Things rapidly got out of control after that, with Rizzo and the girls jumping around, trying on wigs, and making fun of Len's prissiness, as they saw it. 

Margot joined in, despite feeling slightly bad about it. But she herself had often been frustrated with Len just knowing what she ought to do and doing it. Margot was confused about life far more often, her instincts at war with her upbringing. 

It wasn't till they turned around that many of them realised that Len had left the bathroom and was watching them. 

"Are you making fun of me, Riz?" she said. 

Rizzo was a little ashamed of how far she had gone. "Some people are so touchy" she said defensively. 

\------------

All of a sudden they heard the noise of the boys outside. They were crammed into the rusty white car, and Putzy was exclaming something they couldn't quite hear. If they had been able to hear, it was "Len, wherefore art thou, Len", and in fact was due to the fact that Danny had wanted to try to come and talk to Len. However now they were here, he had changed his mind, and just wanted to leave. 

As the girls giggled around the window, Margot saw Kenickie sitting in the driver's seat. She had become quite keen on him over the week, and the wine made her reckless. Len wasn't the only one who could mess around with boys, she thought. And going off with Kenickie was very daring. It was one thing that would show everyone how different she and Len were, were despite being sisters. 

With Margot, to think was to act. She grabbed her shoes, said, in a passable imitation of Rizzo, had she only have known, 

"You goody two shoes are too much for me. I'm going to get my kicks... while I'm still young enough to get them."

Margot went out of the window and down the side of the porch side, ending up in front of the admiring group of boys.


	10. Chapter 10

Len hadn't really registered that the boys were out there, she was still too upset with the girls having been making fun of her - and the fact that Margot had joined in hurt particularly. 

She knew her sister, and knew that she might listen to her devil as defense now, through being ashamed and not able to undo what she had done. Len's own temper was on a knife edge, and she had contemplated leaving and walking home, but she also felt that that would cause problems with the girls, and she HAD enjoyed the contact with them, until this last little bit. 

So when Margot went out, she just assumed her sister was showing off, and would go home. Because she was so angry with Margot, Len was actually just glad that she had gone. Rizzo, she could ignore as an insecure bully, the others had just been caught up in the moment. It was only Margot that Len had real issues with. 

\-----------

Outside Danny couldn't believe his eyes. It looked as though Len was climbing out of the window! Surely not.... No. As the figure came closer he saw that it was her sister. He looked at Kenickie. As he had expected, his best friend was all eyes for this girl, as he had been all week. He now had a fixed look to him that Danny could tell meant no more sense from him that evening. 

Danny sighed and swung himself out of the car. He swaggered off, with some parting insults to the T Birds, and gave himself up to his thoughts of Len. 

The world was spinning for Margot after her trip down over the porch roof. She was momentarily scared at what she had done, when she saw the group of boys there, but as her eyes met Kenickie's, she forgot the dizziness, and was glad she had listened to her devil. 

The other T Birds were shocked to be dismissed by Kenickie, yelling after him as he drove off with Margot. "When a guy picks a chick over his buddies, something gotta be wrong !" 

Kenickie and Margot drove to a local make out spot, and he put the roof of the car up. She was all confused inside. She wanted this, she had been looking on Kenickie from afar all summer, as one of the Pink Ladies' favourite activities had been going to watch him carry boxes with his shirt off, in his summer job. 

She wanted to show everyone how grown up she was, especially Len. After all Len had already been fooling around with a boy, Margot would show her who was more mature. 

All of these thoughts ran through her mind while he put the roof up. Then as he joined her on the back seat, he smiled at her slightly shyly, which was a strange contrast to his normally slightly sneering face. 

Her body was telling her what she wanted to do was right, her mind was saying "Why not" and she had a free night with no supervision. As they kissed, and gradually moved to closer and closer contact, she actually surprised Kenickie with how forward she was, and how far she seemed willing to go. 

A rival gang leader interrupted them for a moment, backing his car into Kenickie's and taunting them both. Kenickie thought about chasing after him, but as he looked back down at Margot smiling up at him from the back seat, he decided there were far better uses of his time. 

They had a brief moment of awkwardness as Kenickie tried to take off her bra and after much fumbling, fiddling and swear words, had to admit that he couldn't get it unhooked. But as Margot looked at his embarrassed face, if anything it brought them closer together. She unhooked it and drew him back towards her. 

As things began to heat up, Margot decided this was it, she wanted to go further. Vague memories of a sex ed lesson at school told her that she ought to be being a bit more careful. After all she came from a family who seemed to fall pregnant as soon as they were even looked at by a man! She mumbled to him "Do you have something?" to which he replied that he did. 

They separated for a moment, while he got the 'rubber' out from his pocket. She was breathing heavily, ready for more but also frantically trying to remember what it was that Miss Wilmot had said about these things. She remembered putting one on a banana, she hoped it wasn't too different now. 

He swore. It had broken, split at the top. He contemplated not telling her, but he couldn't do it. Much as he wanted to carry on, he was falling in love with Margot, as well as in lust. So he told her about it splitting. 

Margot was upset for a moment, then she remembered Miss Wilmot's answer to Francie when her rubber had split while she put it on the banana. It didn't matter as long as most of the banana was covered. 

She told Kenickie it didn't matter, and they carried on. The fact that she was relying on advice from a woman who was technically a virgin, and who had no real clue about protection didn't even cross Margot's mind. If it had, she probably still would have carried on. Her devil had found a pastime that she was hugely enjoying, and she wasn't in a state to think objectively, just listening to her body. 

\------------------------------

Back at the house, things had settled down and the atmosphere had lightened slightly. Len couldn't help brooding over Danny however. 

She wanted some fresh air, the room was fuggy with cigarette smoke, so she went out to the back garden for a break. 

It is silly to feel this way, she told herself. Mine isn't the first heart broken. 

She felt the tears in her eyes and brushed them away. She wished she could just think that she could move on, get over Danny. Her head was telling her that she was a fool, that she should forget him. But for the first time in Len's organised and sensible life, her heart was in conflict with her head. Her heart was saying "Don't let go"

But, she kept telling herself, he had done it, he had pushed her love aside. She desperately wanted to hold onto the thought that maybe he hadn't really mean all that, that there was still hope. 

She brushed more tears away, and told herself fiercely, you are a fool, forget him. But as she went back in she knew that it would be hard. 

I'm hopelessly devoted to you, she thought. Hopelessly devoted to you. 

\--------------------

Back at the house, Con had put the children to bed, and written furiously for a couple of hours. Now she had got that out of her system, she felt able to sit back and think about the week. 

She had been thrilled to discover that the school had its own newspaper, and had asked to join almost as soon as she read tje notice. It was a small group, and a quiet one, but it suited Con well. They were all people interested in the world around them, fascinated by the power of words, not unpopular, but perhaps not fitting fully into any of the other high school cliques and groups. 

She had made a good friend of a boy in glasses, named Eugene. He was nervous out in the main school, but when writing he was confident, and very witty. 

Con had asked whether his glasses were due to an accident, or illness, and had had just looked at her slightly strangely before replying "No, I have astigmatism" 

Con wasn't sure what this was, it sounded rather like stigmata, which wasn't likely, although a tiny fanciful part of her had not been able to avoid looking at the palms of his hands just in case. 

\-----------

As the term went on, Con turned out to be well suited to journalism and was more settled and content at the school than she had thought she would be. She wandered happily in a world of her characters and of possible articles to write for the newspaper. 

Eugene was active in the school council, and she became involved in school activities alongside him, enjoying his friemdship. Con wasn't looking for anything more from boys than to be friends and classmates right now, and she was soon bored with Margot going on about her new boyfriend Kenickie, and Len moping about this boy from the beach. 

She was initially glad when Len decided to give Tom, the boy from the football team, a chance. At least it might stop her mooning about over Danny Zuko. Hopelessly devoted indeed, thought Con. Hopeless is right. Tom was a few sandwiches short of a picnic, but being his girlfriend had seemed to help Len find her own group a bit more. 

Con loved both of her sisters, but she could see that they were better apart at the moment. For triplets they really were all very different people, and it was one of the truely refreshing things about Rydell that they were "Con, Len and Margot" not "the triplets" 

So as far as Con was concerned, life was going on well. Margot felt the same, enamoured as she was of Kenickie. 

Len was doing her best to get over Danny, and Tom was polite and friendly, and behaved like a gentleman. She tried not to want more. 

A brief moment in the diner showed her that Danny regretted the pep rally incident, but Len had no patience with his stammered excuses about his image. 

"That's why I'm glad Tom is such a simple person" she said, giving Tom a little wave. 

Danny snorted "Simple is right, too bad his brains are in his biceps" he chortled. Len's answer brought him up short. 

"Oh yes? What have you ever done?" she said, before returning to Tom at the table. 

Danny looked after her, unable to answer. This wasn't going the way he had planned. 

\--------------------------  
Note from K (take that to be Kathryn or Kenickie :-) ) 

I don't know what straight girls get up to, maybe you already know this, but if you haven't ever tried it, it's damn difficult getting a bra off another person. And after a while thoroughly unromantic! So if your boyfriend / partner fumbles it, be nice to them about it !! ;-) 

\----------------------

Guess mine is not the first heart broken,   
my eyes are not the first to cry I'm not the first to know,   
there's just no gettin' over you   
Hello, I'm just a fool who's willing to sit around   
and wait for you   
But baby can't you see, there's nothin' else   
for me to do I'm hopelessly devoted to you   
But now there's nowhere to hide,   
since you pushed my love aside I'm not in my head,   
hopelessly devoted to you   
Hopelessly devoted to you,   
hopelessly devoted to you  
My head is saying "fool, forget him",   
my heart is saying "don't let go"   
Hold on to the end, that's what I intend to do   
I'm hopelessly devoted to you   
But now there's nowhere to hide,   
since you pushed my love aside I'm not in my head,   
hopelessly devoted to you   
Hopelessly devoted to you,  
hopelessly devoted to you


	11. Chapter 11

Danny looked at the car. Around him, the T birds and Kenickie were testing various parts of the car, and getting the opinion of Miss Murdoch, their 'Shop' teacher on the problems the car had. 

Kenickie was getting annoyed with Putzy, Sonny and Doody making fun of his car. Danny decided to step in, as the junior T Birds were getting far too cheeky, and he could see Kenickie being tempted to give them a lesson with his fists if they didn't shut up soon. 

"Hey," he said to them "What do you drive?" to which they had no good answer.

He decided they needed a bit of encouragement, and started looking over the car more seriously. 

"Well, this car is Automatic, it's systematic, it hyyyyyyydromatic" he said, taking his jacket off as he said it. He looked at the T-Birds, hanging on his every word. 

"Why it's Greased Lightning!" he said. Kenickie laughed happily at this support, and agreed, "Greased Lightning!" 

Danny started moving around the car, painting a picture for his less imaginative friends with his words. 

"We'll get some overhead lifters, and four barrel quads," he said "Oh yeah"

Kenickie was loving this and said "Keep talkin', whoah keep talkin'" 

Danny was getting excited about this himself now. He continued, 

"Fuel injection cut off, and chrome plated rods, oh yeah,"He said. "We'll get some purple French tail lights and thirty-inch fins,  
A palomino dashboard and duel muffler twins..."

Kenickie was thrilled at this idea, but as he saw the other T Bird look doubtful, these were expensive parts, he said to them. 

"I'll get the money, I'll see you get the money" and they started to get more enthusiastic again. 

Danny could see the boys needed a bit more reason to help. He thought for a moment, then had an idea. He knew what would make them interested. He started telling them how the girls would go for them in this car, how the car would "make chicks cream" and be a real "pussy wagon" 

"With new pistons, plugs, and shocks, we can get off our rocks" he said, and they were hooked. The project was begun. They would get the car, now named "Greased Lightning" rebuilt, in time to race it at "Thunder Road" which was a wide drainage area beneath the freeway. 

\-------------

There was great excitment at Rydell to find out that the National Bandstand television show was to be filmed at their school in a few months time. 

Danny was regularly followed around the school by girls hoping he might ask them to go to the dance with them. But all he could think about was Len, and he hated seeing her spending time with Tom the football player. 

He had apologised for his actions at the pep rally, but she was cool towards him and avoided his company. He had to get her attention, and if he could, her approval, but how? 

\-------

Danny looked around the gymnasium. He remembered being in there when younger, but for the past few years he had rarely attended Phys Ed lessons even if he was supposedly taking it as a subject. The Jocks and Greasers didn't tend to mix. 

The coach was emcouraging and willing to help Danny try different sports. However it became quickly apparent that Danny's insecurities about his image and natural tendancy to pick a fight made most sports impossible. After he had stomach punched a wrestler, punched and pushed some basketball players and snapped a baseball catcher's mask into his face, the coach decide he was best suited to running, or 'Track'

\--------------

Len sat on the bleachers by the athletics and football field and sighed. Tom was nice, but ... that was all he was, nice. He had almost nothing to say, and didn't really seem to expect much more from her than to be seen with him and look pretty. Len was trying not to be, but she was bored. 

Con sat with her, taking notes for an article on the football team's chances that year of winning some games and getting to ring the Victory bell.

She saw Danny before Len did, and was suprised to see him in a tracksuit and running. As Len saw him, Con noticed her sister's face momentarily light up, before she got her features under control. 

Con looked critically at Danny. He was trying not to look at Len as he ran, and was clearly doing his best to appear as if he could be an athelete. 

She said to Len, in that curious direct way of hers. 

"He is trying to be like Tom, you know. That's not easy in this school. One thing that is clear is that you have your group and stay in it. He is trying to change for you, I think. "

Len was quiet, her eyes unable to stop from following Danny as he started jumping some hurdles. He caught her eye on one of his own sneak peaks towards her. He hoped she might be watching, and began going faster and trying to jump higher. 

Suddenly, he caught his foot on a hurdle and crashed to the ground. His ego more bruised than his body, he got up and dusted himself down, cursing himself for making a fool of himself in front of Len. 

He was shocked to find her suddenly beside him, wanting to know if he was hurt, checking his arms for grazes. 

"So," he said eventually. "You still going out with that Jockstrap?" 

She looked at him and made her decision.   
"Well" she started, then paused. 

"Well?" he said "Is he taking you to the dance?"

"That depends" said Len. 

" On what?"said Danny, afraid she would say that she was going with someone even harder to compete with than Tom

"On you, she said, with a shy smile. 

Danny took a moment to process this, then a huge grin appeared on his face. 

As Con watched from the bleachers, she had a feeling that Tom would be having to look for a date for the dance. She was proven right as Danny grabbed Len's hand. With a quick look back and wave to Con, a thrilled Len left with him, loving having her hand gripped in his larger one. 

Tom looked on in bemusement. This was most unusual. Tom was a little slow at thinking, but he was fairly sure that his girlfriend going off holding hands with Danny Zuko was not a good sign. 

\--------------

Well this car is automatic, it's systematic, it's hydromatic  
Why it's greased lightnin'!

We'll get some overhead lifters, and four barrel quads, oh yeah  
Keep talkin', whoah keep talkin'  
Fuel injection cut off, and chrome plated rods, oh yeah  
I'll get the money, I'll see you get the money  
With a four-speed on the floor, they'll be waitin' at the door  
You know that ain't shit when we'll be gettin' lots of tit in greased lightnin'

Chorus:

Go, greased lightnin', you're burnin' up the quarter mile  
Greased lightnin', go greased lightnin'  
Go, greased lightnin', you're coastin' through the heat lap trials  
Greased lightnin', go greased lightnin'  
You are supreme, the chicks'll cream for greased lightnin'

We'll get some purple French tail lights and thirty-inch fins, oh yeah  
A palomino dashboard and duel muffler twins, oh yeah  
With new pistons, plugs, and shocks, I can get off my rocks  
You know that I ain't braggin', she's a real pussy wagon - greased lightnin'


	12. Chapter 12

Danny hesitated at the door of the diner. He wanted to be with Len, he wasn't going to risk losing her again. But she was a cheerleader. She wore Alice bands and long old fashioned skirts, kept herself neat and carefully groomed, and was usually at home doing her homework after school. 

He knew that people saw her as a prude, because if he hadn't got to know her at the beach, he would have thought the same. She hadn't explained much, but he knew that she was the eldest of a large catholic family, and had been to a small family run school. She had not had much experience of the world. To her, holding his hand and being out alone was very daring, she didn't have the same devil in her as Margot. 

He knew that she and Margot were barely talking since Len's sister had begun dating Kenickie so obviously, and he had the impression from spending time with her and Kenickie that Margot was hiding a lot of their dating activities from her sisters. This confirmed Danny's suspicion that the Maynard family must be pretty strict about behaviour. 

The more modern teenagers at Rydell were quick to see Len's shyness as disapproval of them, and he was bothered that they would retaliate with mockery. Danny was afraid of mockery leading to worse, to agression and humiliation. He had seen it happen enough in his neighbourhood. 

But Danny's biggest worry was what he himself would do in that situation. He wanted to think that he would protect her, that his own reputation would be enough to avoid too much bullying. But he was so afraid that he wouldn't know what to do or say, might fall back into his safety net of sneering or broody behaviour and let Len down. In the diner would be many people from school. They would see them together, and he would have to publically show that he was dating her. 

"Len, lets go someplace else ok?" he said, but she had some idea of what was going through his mind. Her gentle "Danny..." made him ashamed, and he melted. 

"Ok" he said, then dove into the diner, rushing past where his group normally sat, up to the tables at the back. He arranged the menus as a screen between them and the other diners. 

"What are you doing?" she laughed. 

"I just want us to have some privacy" he replied, taking hold of her hand. Even as he relaxed, Kenickie whipped the menus away and grinned up at them from the area below. "What's up Zuk, eh?" he said, looking from Danny to Len and grinning inanely at them. 

The gang all crowded around them, and Danny was acutely aware of them all listening to Len's innocent conversation and giggling. He felt self conscious and slightly irritated with Len. Why couldn't she be a bit more aware, a bit more... "cool" ? 

Len noticed Con over in her customary booth and waved at her to come over. Con had been writing away, but she had reached a slight block, so she waved back and began to pack up her notebooks. She had also noticed Margot following Kenickie in, and she had a feeling that a neutral party being present could well be good, just in case. 

Margot sat down, feeling hot and tired. Her body was aching and her skin felt terrible from all of the late nights and junk food. She finally paid attention to her surroundings and realised who was there. She looked from Len to Danny, and wasn't sure what to think.

Kenickie burped and snuffled his way through a burger, grinning at her around his mouthfuls. He had recently been treating Margot quite casually, as if he felt that there was no need for wooing her now that she was his girlfriend. She had been feeling neglected and undervalued of late, and was getting irritated with him being so obsessed with his car. 

Now here was Len with Danny. One positive part of the sutuation had been that she had been high in status at school by being with Kenickie. Now with this change of events, she had the second in command, and Len had the leader. Again Len seemed to just fit into things, always be that little step ahead Margot. 

Margot felt hugely out of sorts. She sat and fingered the lovebite marks on her neck. She had been excited to begin with by the idea of such a visible sign of their physical relationship. Now, sitting next to Len for the first time in weeks, she saw Len's clear healthy skin, and was reminded of how far away she herself had come from the Margot who left the Platz. 

Con sat down, next to a girl with short dark curls. She knew who the girl was, Betty Rizzo, the leader of the Pink Ladies. 

Everyone at Rydell knew who Rizzo was. She was shocked however when Rizzo said a casual "Hi Con" . She hadn't expected the tough queen of the girl gang to know who she was, even with Margot as her sister. 

"Hi Rizzo, how are you?" she asked, unsure quite how to respond. 

"Peachy Keen, Jelly Bean" said Rizzo with a smile. 

Rizzo for her part was unsure what to think about seeing Len with Danny. She was over Danny now but it was still strange. She had been slightly keen on Kenickie too, but was actually thinking that she had had a narrow escape, as Kenickie was preening around like an idiot, and she was pretty sure that he was telling his friends everything about how far he and Margot had got. Rizzo was actually thinking that she had started to grow out of these high school boys. 

None of them seemed worth the effort. She was concentrating on getting to college, thinking about getting involved more in politics. One of her childhood heroes, before she became too distracted by high school dramas had been Eleanore Roosevelt. She had been impressed with Con's witty articles about the high school system as seen by an outsider, and was intrigued by how different all of the triplets were. 

The rest of the gang crowded round. Frenchie was teased about her being soon a "working girl with income". She was unusually quiet for her, and sporting a scarf over her hair. They were all used to Frenchie wearing slightly odd things, so didn't even notice it, although Con was slightly curious, seeing a tiny strand of apparently pink hair escaping from one side. 

Jan and Putzy had been skirting around each other for a while. Putzy's rather typical comnents of "I think there is more to you than just fat" and "I always thought you were a very understanding person" just made Jan laugh, and she accepted his invitation to the dance, and they then left together, him being invited back to try some apple pie. There was much teasing of Putzy, but he didn't care, he was just happy that Jan had said yes. 

Danny had had enough. He took Len's hand and they left the diner. Con went to leave but Rizzo started asking her about one of her recent articles in the school paper. So Con sat back down and the two of them were soon laughing together, oblivious to the rest of the group. 

Margot took out a small mirror. 

"I've got so many hickies, people will think I'm a leper." she moaned. 

"Ah don' worry about it, grinned Kenickie in reply, still stuffing his face with burger. "A hickie from Kenickie is like a Hallmark Card - only care enough to send the very best"

Margot looked at him. "You Pig!" she spat at him. 

"I love it when you talk 'Dainty'!" teased Kenickie, but Margot was not impressed. 

A short while later after he had had his head bitten off time after time, and had realised various members of the gang had left without paying, Kenickie had also lost his sense of humour. 

"What's with you tonight, you've got the personality of a wet mop" he pushed back. 

"Don't start with me" snapped Margot.

"OH ok" snapped Kenickie " How about I finish with you, huh?" 

Margot was overtaken with rage. She had had enough. She grabbed the nearest thing handy, which was a huge cherry ice cream milkshake. 

"Finish this!" she shouted, and hurled the contents all over Kenickie, catching Con and Frenchie with it as well. 

"Sorry French" she said in a tight voice. "And Con, sorry Con" then stormed off. 

As he recovered from the shock Kenickie chased after her. "MARGOT!" he yelled. I wanna talk to you. NOW!"

\-----------

The rest of the gang wandered off after that. Con looked at her saturated blouse and cursed Margot. She now had to catch the bus home covered in pink milkshake. 

Rizzo looked at her. "My house is just round the corner" she said to Con, surprising herself almost as much as Con and Frenchie. "Do you want to come back and borrow something to go home in? And you too French, of course" she added. 

"I'm just gonna hang about a little bit longer" said Frenchie, touching the scarf on her head nervously. 

Con however was glad for the rescue and followed Rizzo gratefully out of the diner. 

\------------------


	13. Chapter 13

Frenchie waited until it was only her and Val the waitress in the diner, and removed her scarf. 

"Wow!" said Val, unable to avoid reacting to the bubblegum pink hairstyle in front of her. "I hate to tell you this honey, but your hair looks like an easter egg!"

Frenchie had to admit that she had had a little trouble in tinting class. She was having a little trouble in all her classes. She had totally underestimated the skills needed for beauty treatments, and was finding that her rash decision to drop out of High School was seeming to be a bad one. 

She day dreamed as she sat there, imagining having a guardian angel to tell her what to do. Her future was so unclear now. What was left of her career now?

As she dreamed, she realised what she had to do. She was messed up, but she wasn't a delinquent, and she was bored of hanging around the corner store. 

This beauty school dream wasn't a real one. She would go back to high school, at least then she could join a steno pool. There was a good chance might meet a nice husband. She wasn't cut out to hold a job, at least at the moment. 

After all, if she went back to get her chemistry, she could learn to mix her own cosmetics. 

Frenchie put the scarf back on and went home. 

\-------------------

Danny stood with Kenickie and bent to light his cigarette. As he lifted his head he felt Kenickie tense up. FollowIng his friend's gaze, Danny saw Margot and Marti walking along by the car park. Kenickie and Margot had had row after row following the milkshake incident, and now had officially split up. Kenickie had been moody and ready for a fight until the day before, now he seemed just quiet. 

"You still gonna go to the dance?" Danny asked. Kenickie nodded and blew smoke out. 

"Yeah." he said. "I'm gonna have the hottest date there."

\-------------

Marti and Margot were bemoaning their lack of dates for the dance. Sonny wanted to go with Marti, but she didn't want to encourage him. She thought he was only interested because Putzy and Jan were together and Doody and Frenchie. But to Marti, Sonny was just too childish. She didn't mind hanging out as a group, but she didn't want to be with him, and after all she had all of her penpal boyfriends in the services. 

Margot was in a black mood. She missed Kenickie, but wasn't going to be spoken to the way he had, nor was she willing to be taken for granted. 

Len couldn't help being happy and occupied with Danny, and Con was suddenly staying out late aswell. Margot wondered if it was a boy she was seeing, but at school she only saw her with Eugene Felsnick, and he wasn't the type to be going out late. 

Margot was completly out of sorts. Now she had been introduced to boys she missed making out with Kenickie, and if she was honest, was missing the little things even more, like Kenickie being ready to defend her at any time, or holding doors for her, smiling at her accross the classroom. 

Over all, Margot was wound like a coiled spring and she was in full "Listen to devil" mode. So when the leader of a rival gang, The Scorpians, came driving around, she instantly saw how much that would irritate Kenickie. Marti couldn't quite believe what they were doing, but followed along initially. 

He was much coarser and she had the sense that he could well be meaner and more of a bully than Kenickie, but his open appreciation for her and inability to keep his hands off her, even in public, thrilled Margot to the core. 

And she had a date for the dance to rival Len's leader of the T Birds. The scorpians might not go to Rydell, but everyone knew who they were. 

\-----------

It was finally time for the dance. Con had been helping Eugene and Patti and the rest of the commitee put up decorations all day. She had made some suggestions from her days at the Chalet School, and had worked hard with the organisation of streamers and banners. 

She tried not to laugh at Sonny's "Let's hear it for the toilet paper" as Patti was furious about it, especially as the long white   
streamers had been Patti's own idea. 

Now she was standing to one side, notebook in hand, taking details down for an article for the school paper. She was pleasantly suprised to suddenly have Rizzo by her side, awkwardly holding out a cup if punch. 

Rizzo had been a good friend, but was usually cautious about spending much time at school with Con. 

She had taken a long time to build a fierce reputation so that people didn't tease her or worse. Now she was no longer spending as much time with the T Birds and Pink Ladies, she was feeling vunerable. 

She had seen Con at the side of the hall however, and decided to risk people noticing their friendship. Con was one of the few truely real, honest and forthright people that Rizzo had met, and Rizzo was beginning to value her company hugely. She would deal with any fallout from being seen with one of the school "nerds" on Monday. 

Con smiled at Rizzo and accepted the punch. She took a sip and spluttered.   
" Bit stronger than punch back at my old school!" she said. Rizzo grinned and said that there was a good chance someone, usually Sonny, had added a fair amount of alcohol. 

Con grinned back and drank her punch more slowly. They stood and watched the dancers go through the 'warm up' numbers, played by Jonny Casino and The Gamblers. 

Len was slowly gaining confidence in her dancing. There were a few country dance style group dances that she was used to, but the moves in general were very different to those she thought of as dancing. 

Danny was a very good dancer,and had shown her ways to follow his moves, so they were actually showing as a very good couple compared to many of those on the floor. 

"Hey Zuk" came Kenickie's voice. "I wanna introduce ya to my date." 

Danny turned, and the colour drained from his face. His ex girlfriend, Cha Cha de Gregorio was standing there. He muttered a hello and pulled Len away as soon as he could. He didn't want her hearing things about his womaniser reputation, she was wary enough of him moving them onto the next level as it was. He dismissed Len's questions about Cha Cha, said she was just a girl he knew. 

He couldn't help admiring her dancing however. They had been a fantastic partnership for dancing, both equally good and totally in time with each other. 

"How do you know her?" came Len's voice, bringing him back to reality, as he realised with a jolt that he had been checking out Cha Cha's legs. 

"Oh just a friend of the family" he muttered. Which was true in a way, since they were both from the same neighbourhood, a much rougher one than the one the Triplets and Frenchie lived in. 

\---------------

Margot was enjoying the attention that her 'dangerous' boyfriend was giving her, but was irritated to see his eyes also following Cha Cha. As she thought back, she remembered Cha Cha as being the girl with him when he had backed into Kenickie's car. She and Kenickie had manage to split this couple apart, it seemed. 

The game rules were read out, and the competition began. People were gradually tapped on the shoulder and told to leave the floor. Danny and Len were oblivious to the fights that broke out around them, as Margot's date and Kenickie began to fight over Cha Cha. 

Margot stormed out, narrowly missing crashing into Con and Rizzo, who were standing together, she assumed talking, in a dark corner outside. Margot was in too much of a rage to do more than apologise and keep walking. 

Con took one look at Margot and followed her, making a promise to call Rizzo later. She could see that her sister was in need of support, although she was wary of being pushed away by her. Margot had been incredibly moody of late. 

\--------------

Inside, Danny and Len were the last dancers in the competition, when someone grabbed Len away as a joke. In a flash Cha Cha was there, dancing with Danny. 

Danny was torn. He wanted this prize, and he was loving the dancing. He knew deep down he ought to look for Len, but he didn't. He carried on dancing. 

Len couldn't believe it. After everything, he was there dancing with another girl. She stormed off, unconsciously mimicking her sister as she did so. 

Rizzo was outside, leaning against a wall enjoying the cool air and thinking. She saw Len rush out, and head for home, and sighed. What was it with these Maynard girls? Rizzo was tempted to leave Len to it, and just go back inside, but she knew that there was no bus that night in the direction that Len was going. She sighed again and followed her to tell her.


	14. Chapter 14

"Len, Hey, Len Maynard!" called Rizzo, watching the other girl storm off in the wrong direction. 

"Leave me ALONE!" shouted Len over her shoulder. "Just leave it! Let me guess, I'm not cool, I'm too much of a goody two shoes. Well done, ha ha. You are clever to point that out. Now GO AWAY!!"

Rizzo was very tempted to do just that. Then the way the street light fell on Len's face reminded her of Con, and she knew she had to try to get Len at least onto the correct bus. 

"You are all of those things" she drawled. "But mainly, you are going the wrong way."

Len stopped and frowned back at her. Going the wrong way? 

This gave Rizzo a chance to catch up and explain about the buses. They started to walk back towards the school in silence. Finally Rizzo said "Hey, I'm sorry, you know, about that first night. And surprising you about Danny at the bonfire. Its just.... Well we hadn't broken up long, when you appeared, I guess I was jealous. You know how it is..."

Len stopped still again. Danny and Rizzo? Why hadn't Danny told her? She asked Rizzo that same question. 

"Who knows?" shrugged Rizzo. "He didn't tell me about Cha Cha either, that was why we broke up. Some guys are just like that. They aint trying to get a ring on ya finger, they just want to get far as they can with ya, till the next one catches their eye."

Len tried not to react to the name Cha Cha. She had guessed that there had been more   
than being a family friend. Now it looked like Danny had been lying, or at least omitting to mention. 

Rizzo stopped at the right bus stop for Len. She contempleted just leaving her there. But it was late, and Len was still clearly upset. She sighed and got a cigarette out. There was an awkward moment where she was going to offer Len one, then remembered the teasing the first evening. Len saw the hesitation and smiled in spite of herself. Rizzo didn't seem too bad really. 

"They are all the same, guys in high school" said Rizzo. "They want to show off, be a big man, tell their friends how far they have got. They ain't thinking marriage, our gang, just a good time. Thats one thing about the Jocks, they are more interested in giving their high school ring, bit more respect from them. Pity their brains are in their biceps ! " 

Len was quiet. She had a lot to think about. 

The bus came and Len got on. Rizzo raised a hand and walked off home. She wasn't fussed about going back to the dance. 

\-----------------

Back at Rydell, Danny wasn't sure what to do. He was on National television. He couldn't refuse to do the last dance, everyone watching would know that his girlfriend had left him there. 

He began the dance, the lights went out, "Blue Moon" came on. Cha cha danced with him as if they were a couple. 

Sonny, Putzey and Doody rushed off too the side, put on different shirts over their head to hide, rushed out, and dropped their trousers. The whole place went into uproar, and they ran. 

\--------------

The following monday, Miss McGee, the head made an announcement saying that the photographs of their backsides were being sent to Washington, where the FBI have experts in this type of identification. 

The T Birds looked at each other nervously as they continued working on the car.

\------------

Danny telephoned Len, and after a lot of persuading she agreed to go on another date, this time to a local drive in. She was still angry and suspicious, but she did love Danny, so she wanted to try to believe that he would be different with her. 

\--------

Margot looked at the calender. Little dots marked a day every 3 to 4 weeks or so. But she hadn't had to put a dot on this month, and she was nearly at the point where she ought to be putting another dot for the month after. She wasn't sure, but she had a terrible feeling that she knew why her period was so late. She stared at the calendar again. Surely not. Surely not.


	15. Chapter 15

Len tossed and turned in bed, getting more and more irritated. She didn't know what to think. On the one hand she wanted to be with Danny, and liked his group of friends, now that she had got past their rather casual way of talking and acting.

On the other hand she was proud of her own values, and those of the Chalet School, and didn't want to be pressurised into behaving in a way that might make her family and friends ashamed of her. 

She just didn't know what to think. 

\----------

Everyone was looking forward to the drive-in movie that week. There was to be a selection of short romantic and Sci Fi B movies played on after the other, with advert breaks in between.

That week the adverts included "The Blob", followed by an alien attack movie with the tag line "Can Space Monsters mate with Earth women?" 

The junior T Birds had already decided that they would be coming back to see those when they were shown, though maybe without "The chicks". 

Sonny was also intrigued by a poster advertising an X rated film poster for "Attack of the 50ft Lesbians". He wasn't sure quite what a lesbian was, but assumed it was similar to a Martian, and the poster had several women on, so ought to be good for a watch. He had a pretty good fake ID and was looking forward to trying it out to get into that film. 

The junior T Birds had been smuggled in in the trunk of Kenickie's father's car, and Putzy and Doody quickly paired off with Jan and Frenchy. Sonny was blanked by Marti, who stalked off to see who else was there. 

Margot and Marti had come with the Pink Ladies, but had quickly separated off in the crowd. Con and Rizzo had come in Rizzo's parents car. They were quickly bored by the others and wanted some time to talk, so went off to sit in a nearby children's park until the film started. 

Margot was in a black temper, noticable even to the normally oblivious Marti. 

"What's up with you?" she asked. Without realising what she was doing, Margot replied, flippantly using a line from a film they had seen the previous week. 

"I feel like a defective typewriter" then explained, as Marti looked blank. "I skipped a period." 

Marti was shocked. Margot regretted the words as soon as they came out of her mouth, but the damage was done. Despite swearing to secrecy, Marti told Sonny, and within a short time all of the Rydell students at the drive in knew about it. 

Kenickie, one of the last to hear, was instantly put into a whirl of thoughts. He knew many people had accidental pregnancys like this, he was the result of a fumble in the back of the local cinema, as his mother told him every time she got drunk and swore about his absent father. 

He wasn't going to be like that. He didn't run away from his mistakes. He still missed Margot as well, and he wouldn't admit it even to himself, but the idea of being back together with her almost seemed worth a baby. He started to mentally plan what they would do, he woukd be leaving school soon, and he could get a job. They could be a little family.

He imagined Margot's face when she knew he would take her back, sure she would be relieved and grateful, and as soon as he saw her, he went over and questioned her about the baby. 

Margot looked up at his face. She was afraid of a lot of things, especially if this baby turned out to be real, but she was too proud to take his charity. It might not even  
be his baby. She had kissed and fooled around with the leader of the Scorpians too after all. Margot was a little hazy as to what part of making out really mattered. So Kenickie might not even be the father. If there even WAS a baby. 

"Hey don't worry about it Kenickie, it was somebody elses mistake"she said, defensively. 

He took a moment to process. Then it hurt so much he had to leave, muttering "Thanks a lot, kid" 

"Anytime," she called after him, even as the world suddenly became a colder darker place without him. She wasn't going to make anyone else suffer for her stupidity, and wasn't going to be pushed into any kind of 'shotgun' wedding either. She had seen that happen to so many of the older Chalet School girls, and she wasn't going to be stuck in a marriage just for the sake of appearances. No, she could take care of herself ... and anyone else that came along. 

\--------------------

Danny and Len sat in the car, not sure how to react to each other. Len wanted to ask about Cha Cha and Rizzo, but also irrationally wanted Danny to tell her without having to ask him. 

Danny didn't know what to think. He saw Doody and Putzy dissapearing off into dark corners with their girls, and all around him were other teenagers behaving, well like teenagers. He didn't want to rush Len, but surely by now she would be interested in a little making out? Perhaps she wasn't attracted to him? What if he was just a bit of rebellion for her, a 'dangerous' boyfriend but with no real danger?

He was completly smitten with her, he knew she was the one that he wanted, but he was only human, and the amount of cold showers he had had recently was getting absurd. She would go as far as kisses and being close, then pull away if his hands wandered. Was she just a tease? She was part of that group led by Patti Simcock after all. 

He didn't think she was doing it deliberately. He felt the connection between them, and unusually for him it was mental as well as physical. He had a wild moment where he thought about asking her to marry him. But they had not even finished High School, he had no job, he wanted to go to college, he couldn't do that. 

As they sat and quietly bickered, an alternative occurred to him. His high school ring. At Rydell it was as serious a commitment as an engagement, but was still only a promise of engagement to come, allowed some time to get futures settled.

He struggled to remove his ring and hit Len in the chest as he did it. She was irritated with him, then delighted with the ring itself. She knew from gossip within the cheerleaders how serious a commitment it was here, and she was so happy to know that he respected her that way. 

Danny was thrilled with her reaction, then a little taken aback with how she had taken the ring as a sign of respect but was still sitting chastely far away from him.

He was still unsure whether that meant she would be ready for a bit more or not. He wasn't expecting to get all the way, especially not here, but at least a little fooling around would tell him if she would respond to him physically later. He loved her, but he wasn't about to commit his life to someone with no idea if they were even interested in him that way. He had heard stories of men marrying girls like Len, then being banished in horror from the bedroom on the wedding night, or the wife seeing their husband's desires as a necessary evil for children and no more. Danny was good hearted, but he wasn't a saint. 

He tried clumsily to make a move on Len, and was delighted when she grabbed his wandering hand, seemed to be pulling then together. 

Len on her part was horrified. She had no idea of the tradition of making out at the cinema, and the thought of all these people watching and thinking her just another of Danny's conquests infuriated her. 

She pulled away, got out of the car and slammed the door on Danny as he came towards her. Unintentionally this mean that the door hit him with the handle in an extremely painful area, stopping him from being able to follow her out and make her understand, listen to reason, explain himself. She threw the ring at him, and that hurt almost more than the door handle, for it hadn't been a light decision for him to make. 

"Len!!" he called after her "You just can't walk out of a drive in!" 

But she had gone. He was stranded at the drive in, unable to leave till at least the intermission. As the people in the cars around him stared, he felt not just stranded, but as if he was branded a fool. He began to realise how many people had seen him be rejected so publically. What would they say, Monday at school? 

He wandered over to the swings, oblivious to Con and Rizzo over in a dark corner. He spoke out loud to himself. Couldn't she see that he was in misery?

"We made a start, now we're apart, there's nothing left for me." he said to himself. 

He put his head in his hands. He couldn't see how to get through to her how hard High School could be for him if he didn't keep up his image, keep the bullies away. 

Con suddenly realised who was there, looked around for Len and realised they must have split up again. Danny continued, still thinking he was on his own. He wasn't much one for words, but he had to think of a way to get Len to understand. Rizzo rolled her eyes, and Con winced at the terrible attempt at being poetic and the melodramatic words, but was also touched by the feeling behind them. 

"Len my darling, You hurt me real bad.  
You know it’s true. But baby, you gotta believe me, when I say I’m helpless without you... Love has flown all alone. I sit and wonder why...oh why, you left me. Oh Len..." 

Con was about to move when Rizzo grabbed her and shook her head. She had known Danny since they were 7 and he would hate to know that anyone had heard. 

Even while she felt hugely irritated with Danny and Len, and could tell her nice night with Con was probably going to be cut short, Rizzo still knew that it would push Danny even further into his tough guy image if he knew people had seen his sensitive side. So they kept hidden, let him sit and mutter to himself a bit more. Luckily he left soon after, thinking that he may aswell watch the film. 

Con whispered to Rizzo as soon as he had gone. "Why did you stop me?" and Rizzo explained. Con was thoughtful. She hadn't really trusted Danny herself, but he really did seem to care for Len. 

She wanted to stay here with Rizzo, they rarely got time completely alone to talk, being in such separate groups at school. But if Danny was in this state, she knew Len must be somewhere about, and unlikely to be able to get herself home, since the drive in was a long way away from the house. She apologised, and got up to go and look for her sister. 

Rizzo sighed, and went with her to find Len. On the way they heard the news about Margot, and Con's shock was self evident. Rizzo realised that Con was no less innocent than her sisters in some things. She had seemed so together and wise that Rizzo had almost forgotten that they were triplets. 

Grumbling to herself and wondering how she ended up being drawn into all the dramas that these Triplets got themselves into, Rizzo got the car at intermission, and set off with Con to find her sisters. It took a while, but finally they found Margot sitting away from everyone at the back of the drive in, and Len stalking furiously along the road heading back to town. 

Rizzo drove them home, wondering how on earth all these messes were going to be worked out. She was going to drop them and then head home herself, but Con asked her to stay, help her talk to the other two. Rizzo was doubtful she could help, but couldn't refuse such a direct plea. She parked the car and followed the Triplets into the house. 

\-----------

Stranded at the drive in  
Branded a fool  
What will they say Monday at school?

Sandy can’t you see that I’m a misery  
Made a start now we’re apart  
There’s nothing left for me  
Love has flown all alone  
I sit and wonder why-y-y-y-y oh why?  
You left me   
oh Sandy

Oh Sandy Baby  
Someday when High School is done  
Somehow, someway our two worlds will be one  
In heaven forever and ever we will be  
Oh please say you’ll stay  
Oh Sandy

*SAID*   
Sandy my darling  
You hurt me real bad  
You know it’s true  
But baby   
You gotta believe me  
When I say   
I’m helpless without you

*SUNG*  
Love has flown all alone  
I sit and wonder why-y-y-y-y oh why?  
You left me   
Oh Sandy

Sandy  
Sandy-y  
Why-y-y-y-y  
Oh Sandy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The "Can space monsters mate with Earth Women is actually in the film, I had never heard it till I started listening without the picture in order to write this.


	16. Chapter 16

By unspoken agreement, they all went out to the summerhouse in the garden, where they would not be overheard. Rizzo sat on a wicker chair and waited to see what would happen. The Triplets sat awkwardly on other chairs near each other. 

Con looked between her sisters, not sure where to start. Dealing with the Danny and Len situation was less urgent now, Margot's situation was more serious. She cleared her throat, the sound very loud in the quiet of the room. 

"Margot are you... is it true?" she said, putting one hand out to touch to Margot's knee. Her sister rested her hand on Con's thankful for the support it suggested. 

"I ... Well I haven't had a ... Well a period ... For a long time." she replied, face burning at mentioning periods, another taboo subject on the Platz. 

It had been different mentioning it in front of Marti, she hadn't grown up with her, and the Pink Ladies were quite casually chatty about such things. 

Rizzo was amazed to see Len and Con blush at this as well. After all these girls were nearly 18, and had been at a girls school. But she realized from their reactions that the world they were from was hugely different to her own. 

She was totally confused by this family. They seemed to have been living in a world removed from modern life, from everything she had heard from Con. 

All those families with huge multiples of children, hazily defined rationships with 'adopted relatives' ... It sounded too rather as if people rarely married out of the community, and often brought spouses back there if they did.

She wondered about it all. She knew that there were stories of cults out in Utah like that. It was also a bit like the things you heard about people living in trailer parks. In fact Rizzo was sure Con had mentioned people living in Chalets. Perhaps she was actually talking about trailer type chalets, not the big buildings that Rizzo was thinking about. She resolved to ask in more detail later. 

Either way, if they were like the Utah Religious Communities or trailer park type, the family sounded strict and conservative. An unplanned pregnancy was difficult enough, without a family excommunicating the daughter. Rizzo didn't envy Margot one bit. 

\-------------

Len looked confused. She hadn't really registered about the pregnancy, and was just catching up now. Involuntarily she showed her shock at Margot's situation in a thoughtless exclamation. 

"Surely you can't mean you are pregnant! After all you would have to have, well ... 'Gone all the way' for that and you ... You wouldn't ... Would you?"

Con internally despaired at her elder sister's innocence. Margot and Kenickie had hardly been subtle, how Len had missed it, she did not know. Len's shocked face was more than Margot could bear, and she hud her own face in her hands. 

Rizzo, who still equated Len with the "Teases" group of cheerleaders, decided to cut in here. 

"Hey, give her a break," she said. "There are worse things she could do, than go with a boy" Margot at this gave a sob and added "Or two" at which even Rizzo looked quite shocked. 

Len was still hyped up after the earlier argument with Danny, and then suddenly having it spelled out to her how far Margot had strayed from the values of a Chalet School girl. She moved away from Margot, unable to look at her. 

Rizzo continued. "Even though..."

Margot interrupted, saying "Everyone on the Platz neighbourhood is going to think I am rubbish ... Trashy" she translated the last for Rizzo, who looked bemused at the unfamiliar word. "And no good...I suppose it could be true" 

Rizzo answered. 

"But there are worse things you could do." She said, then looked pointedly at Len. "You could flirt with all the guys, smile at them and bat your eyes."

Con was beginning to see where Rizzo was going. The extremes of dating behaviour were both in the room with her two, so different sisters. They were both having men problems, who was to say which of them was worse than the other? She though about how Len had been quite flirty physically with Danny at the dance, as a result of the spiked punch. 

"You could press against them when you dance. Make them think they stand a chance" She said, and Rizzo smiled at her, glad it wasn't just her giving Len something to think about. 

To everyone's surprise, rather than getting defensive, Len herself seemed to wake up at this, as if she started to understand Danny's side of things a bit more. 

"Then refuse to see it through..." she murmered half to herself. Danny hadn't been being so bad, why was she so scared of it all? Her eyes rested on Margot, as her sister replied to the comments. 

"Well, that's a thing I'd never do" Margot said firmly. She would consider such behaviour hypocritical and false. 

Len wasn't sure what to think. Was her behaviour as bad as that? It wasn't really, but she felt it hadn't been quite as she ought to behave. Really she ought not to be being alone like this with a man before marriage. But how boring that would be niw that she had got used to dating. She was confused. 

"I could stay home, every night" she mused.

Margot laughed at this and added her own mocking reply "What, wait around for Mr Right?"

Len laughed, but was then embarrassed by the next words, as Margot cotinued, almost to herself. "I should have just taken cold showers every day."

Con here interjected. She didn't think Margot or Len would be helped by swearing off men. "What - throw your life away? On a dream that won't come true?" She said. 

Len moved back towards her youngest triplet 

"Look Margot," she said " I know we haven't been the best of friends recently, but if there is anything I can do ..." 

Margot was grateful for the olive branch. She could take care of herself ... And anyone else who came along. But it was nice to have the support from Len. She realised how strained and red eyed Len looked. She hadn't been aware that anything was wrong until now. She wondered why Len looked so upset. 

"I need to talk to Danny" said Len. Margot laughed harshly, thinking if Kenickie. 

"If you don't have wheels and a motor, who won't know you are alive." she said in bitter tones. The other's weren't quite sure how to amswer this, so just touched her hand in sympathy again, which she appreciated. 

\---------

They sat in companionable silence for a while in the dark summerhouse, listening to the sounds of the night insects ourside. 

Margot was thinking about how she had been joining in the bullying, how she had thought less of her sister for sticking to what she saw as old fashioned values. Now it seemed that the situation had perhaps shown Len to be the one with the right idea. 

"I may not steal or lie, but I do know that I could hurt someone like me, out of spite or jealousy." she said to Len, her eyes pleading for forgiveness. 

Len realised what was going through Margot's mind, and went quiet. She remembered all of the tears she had shed at the way Margot had treated her for months, and it was hard not to feel a little resentful. Then she looked at her sister, and held out her hand. 

"Margot" she said "I forgive you. But ... I don't think you realised - I can feel ... and I can cry" 

Margot was shocked at both the guesture of support, and the admission of vunerability from Len. Len smiled through her tears and said 

"I think that's a fact you never knew. I needed to be strong, be a good example, I thought. And... I wasn't going to let you see how it hurts me. So ... To cry in front of you... Well that felt like the worst thing I could do..."

The sisters moved together and held each other in a fitm hug. It was good to be friends again. 

Rizzo and Con met each other's eyes and nodded in understanding. They weren't needed here anymore. If Len and Margot had any more to say it would be better done in private. They left the other two in the summerhouse and went on up to the house. 

\------------

There are worse things I could do,  
Than go with a boy or two.  
Even though the neighborhood thinks I'm trashy,  
And no good,  
I suppose it could be true,  
But there are worse things I could do.

I could flirt with all the guys,  
Smile at them and bat my eyes.  
Press against them when we dance,  
Make them think they stand a chance,  
Then refuse to see it through.  
That's a thing I'd never do.

I could stay home every night,  
Wait around for Mr. Right.  
Take cold showers every day,  
And throw my life away,  
On a dream that won't come true.

I could hurt someone like me,  
Out of spite or jealousy.  
I dont steal and I dont lie,  
But I can feel and I can cry.  
A fact I'll bet you never knew.  
But to cry in front of you,  
That's the worse thing I could do.


	17. Chapter 17

Greased Lightning was ready. Primed, repaired, painted and "As hot as the parts on it" as Miss Murdoch, the shop teacher described it. The T Birds hadn't stolen all of it, but a fair amount had been 'borrowed' from other cars around their neighborhood. 

Danny looked the car over in appreciation, but drew Kenickie aside in concern. The race they were going to, out on 'Thunder Road' was no joking matter. Racers regularly span out of control, crashed into each other and caused huge damage to each other's cars - and to each other. Fights between rival gangs were common and some dangerous people bet on the races. 

Kenickie appreciated the concern from Danny. They had been friends a long time. He stumbled over the words, but finally got out to Danny a request to be his second, watch his back and generally be there for him. They grinned at each other, play fought, and then hugged, before realizing they were being watched and combing their hair with a huge degree of casualness to get past the moment. 

A few hours later they couldn't believe their bad luck. Their draw had Kenickie racing the leader of the rival gang, The Scorpions. Even worse, Cha Cha was now back as his girlfriend, and was all over him, while Kenickie was still stinging from Margot's rejection. 

While they waited to start, Jan found a penny. 

"See a penny pick it up, all day long you'll have good luck !" she said, matching her actions to ger words. Suddenly, however, the luck turned again. Marti took it from her and tried to give it to Kenickie, unfortunately dropping it as she did so. 

WHAM!! 

As Kenickie bent to pick the penny up, Putzy opened the car door and the metal handle whacked Kenickie in the head, knocking him on to the floor. He seemed to be still, pale, and to all appearances, dead. 

As he came round it was obvious that he couldn't drive. If he defaulted now or lost the race, the other driver would own his car. Greased Lightning would be driven round by the rival gang. He had to admit he wasn't safe to drive, and ask Danny to help.

Danny took his place, and the race began. To begin with, the Scorpian car had the lead, the driver using metal blades on his wheels to tear a hole in the side of Grease Lightning. Everyone groaned at the sight of all their hard work on the bodywork gone in a matter of minutes, and Kenickie put his head in his hands. 

But once the cheap tricks were done, it soon became clear that Danny was the better driver. He was nearly rolled by the other boy trying to force him up the sloping wall, but kept control and with a last burst, he won the race! He was instantly surrounded by the gang, cheering rapturously. 

Over at the side, Len sat, and watched them crowd around him. She had been terrified when she saw that it was him that was going to drive, and wanted to run and grab him, pull him out of the car to stop him risking himself like that. Now she sat trying to get her breath back. 

She looked at the gang. They were all so well known to her now. They were so different to the people at the Chalet School on the outside, but she was beginning to realise that they were not so different deep inside. 

She laughed as she mentally allocated the junior T Birds as naughty middles, thoughtless, but never meaning true harm. The girls were outwardly more mature than the seniors at the Chalet, but when it came down to it, they were always there for each other.

Danny and Kenickie, both looked like types she would have thought as dangerous, ruffians, even criminals from appearance, yet Kenickie had stepped straight up to support Margot about the baby, and Danny had shown his loyalty just now risking his own neck for his friendship with Kenickie. 

More importantly, she realized all of a sudden how much effort to change Danny had made that year, to be a Jock if she wanted, to dance with her proudly at the dance although she was low in high school status and were nowhere near as good a dancer as him. He really had tried to not push her, she saw that now, to be the type of gentleman that she thought she had wanted. 

All of a sudden Len saw how they perhaps saw her. How her behavior might seem as though she looked down on them. She hadn't meant that, they were just so different to the types of people that she was used to at home. Len stepped back and looked at herself. 

She was sure that there had to be more to her than what they saw. She had seen herself as being wholesome and pure, but perhaps had gone overboard about it all. She had felt so scared and unsure that she hadn't perhaps judged Danny fairly. 

She took a deep breath and sighed, then held her head high. She knew what she had to do, what she wanted to do. She asked Frenchy, who had run up to say hello, to help her. 

The good hearted girl agreed at once, without even knowing what Len wanted her to do, another similarity, to those she knew at the Chalet- friendship meant being there to help, no questions asked. 

\------------------

It was the last day of term. Miss McGee had given her last day speech, the reports had been handed out, and they all erupted from the school to go and enjoy the commencement festivities. 

The Junior T Birds were bemoaning that they hadn't graduated due to not passing Phis Ed, when Kenickie suddenly left them. 

"'Margot !" he yelled up at her, on a ferris wheel. "Get off of that thing, in your condition!" 

Margot was touched at his concern for her, even though he thought the baby was someone elses. But she had finally found out that it was, as she shouted down to him, a false alarm. He whooped in delight and came rushing up to her. 

She was amazed to find out that after everything, he wanted to be with her! She doubted to begin with but, to her shock, then and there he offered to marry her, make an honest woman of her. She cuddled close to him and felt safe and loved.

\----------

Over on the other side of the field, the junior T Birds were shocked in turn to find out that Danny had 'lettered' in track, had represented hos school. Even more confusing, he was wearing the jacket, openly identifying as a Jock. He was chosing Len, chosing her over the T-Birds. 

All of a sudden, the T-Birds stopped yalking to him, and their mouths dropped open. Danny turned in the direction of her gaze. 

Len !!! He said. 

"Tell me about it ... Stud " came the unbelievable reply. 

\-----------

Lyrics 

Look at me, there has to be  
Something more than what they see  
Wholesome and pure  
Oh so scared and unsure  
A poor man's Sandra Dee

Sandy, you must start anew  
Don't you know what you must do?  
Hold your head high  
Take a deep breath and sigh,  
"Goodbye to Sandra Dee." 

Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.   
GIBB, BARRY / GIBB, MAURICE ERNEST / GIBB, ROBIN HUGH


	18. Chapter 18

Tell me about it ... Stud " came the unbelievable reply. 

\---------

Danny couldn't believe what he was seeing. In front of him was Len, dressed in the tightest of leather trousers, a revealing top, styled hair and earrings. 

She was doing the same as him! She was choosing to change appearance, to seem more like his type ! He felt amazed and touched by her effort. As he looked at her, he could see every curve, which gave him chills, multiplying through him. The whole thing was electrifying! He started to feel that he was losing control, as if Len was supplying him with power beyond that he could handle. 

She looked at him, and all the effort had been worth while, she saw he understood. She was saying by this that she wanted him. But she was also clear that she expected him to do his part, to 'shape up' and be less bothered by other people's opinions. She said to him that she had to be true to her heart, that he was the one that she wanted. 

He agreed enthusiastically, and she managed to get him to understand that she knew he was too shy to convey to her the affection that filled him, but that she knew, that he could tell her whatever he felt. 

As they went through the funhouse, he couldn't keep his eyes from her. All around him were admiring eyes looking at Len, at his Len!

\--------------------

The whole gang was together, and they were happy, singing and dancing, enjoying the sunshine. 

Con sat off to one side, a slightly strange look on her face. Rizzo came over to sit next to her. 

"You ok?" she said to her. Con turned a huge smile on her and said back in a passable impression of her friend. 

"Peachy Keen, Jelly Bean" and then linked arms with her and went to join the gang. She wasn't quite sure how to put it, but she was, typically for Con, thinking further ahead than that happy day. 

She knew both Margot and Len would follow through, would marry these young men, and be happy with them. She also knew that her parents would worry, but wouldn't stand in the way of their happiness. So the next logical step was at least one wedding, probably two, and probably on the Gornetz Platz. 

As Con looked around her at the happy go lucky T-Birds and Pink Ladies, and thought about her school and home extended family, she couldn't help but smile. This was going to be interesting. 

For now, however, it was a sunny day, lessons were over, and the two main couples were back together. 

Hopefully they would be together forever, always be together. 

A wop ba-ba lu-mop a wop bam boom! 

:-) 

The end. (For now...) 

\-----------

B= boy/ Danny  
G=Girl/Sandy  
B: both

G: Tell me about it stud!

B: I got chills.  
They're multiplyin'.  
And I'm losin' control.  
'Cause the power  
you're supplyin',  
it's electrifyin'!

G: You better shape up,  
'cause I need a man  
and my heart is set on you.  
You better shape up;  
you better understand  
to my heart I must be true.

B: Nothin' left, nothin' left for me to do.

Both: You're the one that I want.  
(you are the one i want), o,o, oo, honey.  
The one that I want.  
(you are the one i want want), o,o,oo, honey.  
The one that I want  
(you are the one i want want), o,o, ooooo  
The one I need.  
Oh, yes indeed.

G: If you're filled  
with affection  
you're too shy to convey,  
meditate in my direction.  
Feel your way.

B: I better shape up,  
'cause you need a man  
G: i need a man  
who can keep me satisfied.  
B: I better shape up  
if I'm gonna prove  
G: you better prove  
that my faith is justified.

B:Are you sure?  
Both:Yes, I'm sure down deep inside.

You're the one that I want.  
(you are the one i want want), o, o, oo, honey.  
The one that I want.  
(you are the one i want want), o,o,oo, honey.  
The one that I want  
(you are the one i want),o, o, oo  
The one I need.  
Oh, yes indeed.

Repeat Chorus 2x 

\--------

Grease - We go together' Lyrics   
Album: New Broadway Cast Recording 

[Danny and Sandy]  
We go together like  
rama lama lama   
ke ding a de dinga a dong  
remembered for ever like  
shoo bop shoo wadda wadda yipitty boom de boom

[Sandy, Danny, Rizzo & Kenickie]  
Chang chang chang-it-ty chang   
shoo-bop  
That's the way it should be  
Wha oooh yeah!

[All]  
We're one of a kind  
Like dip di-dip di-dip  
Doo-bop a doo-bee doo  
Our names are signed  
Boog-e-dy boog-e-dy boog-e-dy   
boog-e-dy   
Shoo-by doo-wop she-bop  
Chang chang chang-it-ty chang   
shoo-bop

We'll always be like one  
Wa-wa-wa-waaa!

When we go out at night  
And stars are shinin' bright  
Up in the skies above  
Or at the high school dance  
Where you can find romance  
Maybe it might be lo-oh oh oh-oh oh-ove

[Can be broken up into groups]  
Ra-ma la-ma la-ma ka ding a da ding de dong  
Shoo-bop sha wad-da wad-da yipp-it-y boom de boom  
Chang chang chang-it-ty chang shoo-bop  
Dip da-dip da-dip doo-wop da doo-bee doo  
Boog-e-dy boog-e-dy boog-e-dy boog-ed-y   
Shoo-by doo-wop she-bop  
Sha-na-na-na-na-na-na-na yip-pit-y boom de boom  
Ra-ma la-ma la-ma ka ding-a de ding de dong  
Shoo-bop sha wad-da wad-da yipp-it-y boom de boom  
Chang chang chang-it-ty chang shoo-bop  
Dip da-dip da-dip doo-wop da doo-bee doo  
Boog-e-dy boog-e-dy boog-e-dy boog-e-dy   
shoo-by doo-wop she-bop  
Sha-na-na-na-na-na-na-na yip-pit-ty boom de boom

[Guys]  
A wop ba-ba lu-mop

[Girls]  
A wop bam boom

We're for each other like   
A wop ba-ba lu-mop and wop bam boom  
Just like my brother is   
Sha na na na na na yip-pit-y dip de boom  
Chang chang chang-it-ty chang shoo-bop  
We'll always be together   
Wha oooh yeah!  
We'll always, be together   
We'll always be together  
We'll always be together [End here or fade out]  
A wop ba-ba lu-mop a wop bam boom


End file.
